Vol. 13 · pages 21–25

xxvi DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

FOREWORD The Government of Maharashtra has made a signal contribution to the study and understanding of the history of modern India by undertaking the monumental task of compiling, editing and publishing the works of Babasaheb Ambedkar. The present volume is the thirteenth in the series they have brought out. It is devoted exclusively to the writings and speeches of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar on the Constitution of India. As Chairman of the Drafting Committee and as the one who piloted this historic document through the Constituent Assembly, he was the principal architect of the Constitution. Shri T. T. Krishnamachari, a colleague of his in the Drafting Committee, said in one of his speeches in the Constituent Assembly: “The House is perhaps aware that of the seven members nominated by you, one had resigned from the House and was replaced. One had died and was not replaced. One was away in America and his place was not filled up, and another person was engaged in State affairs, and there was a void to that extent. One or two people were far away from Delhi and perhaps reasons of health did not permit them to attend. So it happend ultimately that the burden of drafting this Constitution fell upon Dr. Ambedkar and I have no doubt that we are grateful to him for having achieved this task in a manner which is undoubtedly commendable.”

Dr. Ambedkar carried out this herculean intellectual labour “in spite of his indifferent health” as Dr. Rajendra Prasad put it, and “added lustre to the work he has done.” His writings and speeches throw floodlight on the principles and ideas behind the Constitution, on its numerous provisions affecting the whole gamut of the life of the nation and the rights and liberties and obligations of the people. To read these to-day is an experience akin to being present at the creation of the Constitution. As Shri R. Venkataraman, the former President of India, said : “Dr. Ambedkar anticipated every conceivable requirement of the new polity.” His words light up the context and the intent of the provisions of the Constitution that are periodically being interpreted and re-interpreted by our Courts. They also contain salutary warnings that we must pay heed to if we are to preserve the structure and the spirit of the Constitution, the unity of the nation and the welfare and progress of the people that it was intended to protect and advance. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had described Dr. Ambedkar as “a symbol of the revolt against all the oppressive features of Hindu society.” Dr. Ambedkar was indeed a symbol of revolt by all the oppressed and deprived sections of our society, a symbol which is to-day inspiring millions of our people into widespread social and political action. A passionate believer in democracy he also believed that “social and economic democracy are the tissues and the fibre of political democracy”. He warned in one of his speeches in the Constituent Assembly that:—“To leave equality between class and class, between sex and sex which is the soul of Hindu society untouched and to go on passing legislation relating to economic problems is to make a farce of our Constitution and to build a palace on a dung heap.” It is this passion for equality and social justice which was expressed in different but equally impassioned forms by Mahatma Gandhi vi DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

and Jawaharlal Nehru and embodied in the Constitution that has made Indian democracy not a fragile “palace on a dung heap” but a solid edifice that has stood the stresses and strains of our myriad and massive problems. Dr. Ambedkar’s contribution to this was of seminal importance. It is interesting to recall that Dr. Ambedkar defined democracy as: “A form or method of government whereby revolutionary changes in the economic and social life of the people are brought about without bloodshed.” While a revolutionary he was also an uncompromising constitutionalist who advocated that changes, however radical should be effected through constitutional methods and within the constitutional framework. He repeatedly emphasized the paramount need for the diffusion of “constitutional morality” in society, which he held “is not a natural sentiment. It has to be cultivated. We must realize that our people have yet to learn it.” In his devotion to the practice of constitutional morality he went to the extent of ruling out even non-violent extra-constitutional methods like “satyagraha” from the politics of post-independent India. He visualized democracy as the “golden mean” the method of the Buddha which in his view was the best and the safest method of action. His vision of India and the future of the oppressed sections and the minorities in the country was in line with this basic philosophy. In one of his important speeches he said : “In this country both the minorities and the majorities have followed a wrong path. It is wrong for the majority to deny the existence of minorities. It is equally wrong for the minorities to perpetuate themselves. A solution must be found which will serve a double purpose. It must recognize the existence of the minorities to start with. It must also be such that it will enable majorities and minorities merge some day into one.” He believed that the Constitution drafted under his Chairmanship will serve this double purpose. viiFOREWORD

Dr. Ambedkar had faith in the Constitution that he helped to fashion for India. “I feel”, he said, “that it is workable, it is flexible and it is strong enough to hold the country together both in peace time and in war time. Indeed, if I may say so, if things go wrong under the new Constitution, the reason will not be that we had a bad Constitution. What we will have to say is, that Man was vile.” His faith in the future of India and in the people of India was profound. He told the Constituent Assembly, “I know to-day we are divided politically, socially and economically. We are a group of warring camps, and I may even go to the extent of confessing that I am probably one of the leaders of such a camp. But, Sir, with all this, I am quite convinced that given time and circumstances nothing in the world will prevent this country from becoming one.” Dr. Ambedkar emerges from this Volume not only as a man of immense erudition and foresight, but one who had faith in the people of India and in the future of India under a political system which is at once strictly constitutional and socially and economically progressive. New Delhi, (K. R. NARAYANAN) April 5, 1994 Vice-President of India viii DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES